


Things Can Only Get Better

by Kaoru_chibimaster



Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Birthday, Ficlet, Gen, Song Based, THIS IS REALLY SHORT OKAY, drabble sized, i've been listening to 80s music on repeat all morning someone help me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-07
Updated: 2018-02-07
Packaged: 2019-03-15 03:35:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13604694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaoru_chibimaster/pseuds/Kaoru_chibimaster
Summary: And do you feel scared? I do. But I won’t stop and falter. And if we threw it all away, things can only get better.





	Things Can Only Get Better

**Author's Note:**

> Oh boy two Final Fantasy birthday fics in one day! ~~That I totally forgot about until recently…~~
> 
> [Here’s the song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVyrtzYklB0) I based this fic on as well as the one Aerith is listening to.

There was some sort of boppy tune playing from the side shop Aerith had planted herself near. Just around the traffic circle, drifting out of the window from the radio set down on the sill. She’d started nodding her head to it unconsciously, not much bothering to sell her flowers as opposed to just leaving them out in the cart beside her in hopes that their prettiness would draw attention. Not much luck. No one really looked for pretty in the slums. She’d managed to give away a few flowers for free to a little girl that had drifted past her aimlessly. Probably homeless. Aerith sent the girl in the direction of the church where she’d likely find other kids her age. They’d probably care for her. Children tended to form their own little gangs where they could watch over one another. She didn’t feel the best about leaving the kids to fend for themselves beyond offering the shelter of the church roof, but she couldn’t burden her mom further with more mouths to feed. Aerith was barely supporting herself as it was, selling flowers on the side of the street and still living at home at the age of…

Twenty two. Hmm. It was her birthday.

Aerith laughed to herself, ignoring the funny looks it had earned her. Of course she’d forget her birthday. It barely meant anything beyond her growing older. Her mom had poked fun at her for it a few times in the past, but Aerith stoutly ignored it. She was not old, thank you. She was twenty two years young. And young people shouldn’t slump sadly on the sidewalk just because of one, or six, bad sales days. Huffing, she pushed herself up from the ground, grabbed her flowers and started calling out again, pitching her bouquets for sale.

They always said when one reached rock bottom, they had nowhere to look but up. Well Aerith didn’t think she’d reached that point just yet, but she was low enough that when she looked up, she couldn’t see the sky. And to think that she used to be scared of it…

She wouldn’t keep letting something like petty fears stop her now. She was going to sell her bouquets, she just swore it. She was going to use the money to buy some food for those kids in the church. If she had some gil left over, she’d buy some ingredients from the market and make a cake with her mom when she got home. Her spirits lifted with the thought, putting a smile on her face and a bounce in her step. She found herself singing along with the song from that shop window, white paint chipping and door boarded up to cover the empty space where glass had once been. Aerith was pretty sure it was a record shop. It also happened to be the brightest spot in the gloomy neon the slum streets tended to exude. Maybe she’d visit it later, as a small birthday gift to herself. She’d be pushing her budget, but well…sometimes it was worth it. One of these days, she’d start doing better for herself and her mom. She doubted she’d ever get to stop hiding from Shinra, but that didn’t mean she’d have to live the rest of her life constantly afraid. Frankly, she didn’t want to.

Having a positive outlook on life…that was how she wanted to live. Things would only get better from there.


End file.
